"All these attempts on which, as he well knew, I had worked incessantly, were wrested from me. And by whom? By England; and why? Because of Belgian neutrality! Can this neutrality which we violate only out of necessity, fighting for our very existence, and with the express assurance that we will repay any damage, if Belgium lets us march through—can this neutrality and the way in which it is threatened, really provide the reason for a world war? Compared to the disaster of such a holocaust does not the significance of this neutrality dwindle into a scrap of paper?"
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Remarks to the British Ambassador, Edward Goschen (4 August 1914), quoted in Konrad H. Jarauschl, ‘The Illusion of Limited War: Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg's Calculated Risk, July 1914’, Central European History, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1969), p. 71. The "scrap of paper" was the Treaty of London of 1839 which guaranteed the independence and neutrality of Belgium
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Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg
1856 – 1921
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg →
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